Banking and Finance Law Commons^™

Understanding And Regulating Twenty-First Century Payment Systems: The Ripple Case Study, Marcel T. Rosner, Andrew Kang

Michigan Law Review

Ripple is an open-source Internet software that enables users to conduct payments across national boundaries in multiple currencies as seamlessly as sending an email. This decentralized Internet payment protocol could provide a cure to an inefficient cross-border payments system. Although Ripple’s technology can reduce significant risks and costs that exist in the internationalpayments system, regulators should adopt a new regulatory framework that responds to how this technology works. This Note performs two functions to help regulators realize this goal. It first helps regulators and other market participants understand how Ripple operates by explaining what Ripple is and comparing it to …

The Law And Ethics Of High-Frequency Trading, Steven R. Mcnamara

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

The Green Economy Paradox: A Critical Inquiry Into Sustainability Indexes, Oren Perez

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

When Lenders Can Legally Provide Loans With Effective Annual Interest Rates Above 1,000 Percent, Is It Time For Congress To Consider A Federal Interest Cap On Consumer Loans?, Victor D. Lopez

Journal of Legislation

The question of whether interest rates should be regulated for the good of society has been debated by secular and religious authorities for millennia. Restrictions on the highest rate of interest allowed by law (if any) are generally set by the states. In the U.S., whether citizens are protected against unreasonably high interest rates is generally a matter for state legislatures to decide. In this article, the current laws of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are examined with regards to the issue of usury, as well as the challenges posed by federal law for states who wish …

Has The S-Corp Run Its Course? The Past Successes And Future Possibilities Of The S Corporation, David Branham

Journal of Legislation

The United States' economy has benefited greatly by providing an atmosphere where small businesses can grow in a free marketplace. The S-Corporation and its tax advantages have played a pivotal role in our strong economy. In order to ensure continued success as a part of the economy, the S-Corporation element prohibiting foreign shareholders needs to be adjusted.

Icsid’S Reinforcement?: Unasur And The Rise Of A Hybrid Regime For International Investment Arbitration, Kendall Grant

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The legitimacy and effectiveness of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) is a matter of spirited debate. Opponents argue that ICSID’s ideological and procedural bias impedes fairness, its complexity and cost restrict access to justice, and its lack of an appeal process exacerbates uncertainty and unpredictability. Dissatisfaction with and ideological critique of ICSID, especially on the part of Latin American states, culminated in 2009 when Ecuador proposed the creation of a regional arbitration centre as part of the Union of South American Nations (“UNASUR”). This article surveys the myriad criticisms launched against ICSID and assesses the likelihood …

The Comprehensive Capital Analysis And Review And The New Contingency Of Bank Dividends, Robert Weber

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Postal Banking Worked—Let’S Bring It Back, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

This article appearing in The Nation on January 9, 2016 examines how Postal Banking could assist low-income individuals.

Why The Poor Face A Higher Cost Of Banking, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

Professor Baradaran appeared on PBS Newshour to discuss inequality in the banking system on January 6, 2016.

Border Town Bullies: The Bad Auto Deal And Subprime Lending Problem Among Navajo Nation Car Buyers, Megan Horning

Student Published Scholarship

This article argues that due to the circumstances of Navajo Nation residents, Navajo car buyers have a greater need for cars and are therefore disproportionately harmed by unfair border town auto deals and subprime auto loans. Additionally, this article suggests several ways to address these issues while acknowledging the conundrum created if Navajo Nation residents are prevented from buying cars.

Part I of this article describes the current U.S. auto sales and lending process, including the stages of car buying, credit score calculation, and how national auto sales, lending, and investment markets profit from unfair car sales and subprime lending. …

Uncertain Futures In Evolving Financial Markets, Anita Krug

All Faculty Scholarship

Today’s publicly offered investment funds, including mutual funds, have ever more diverse investment strategies, as they increasingly invest in financial instruments that, in earlier years, had been the province of only the most sophisticated investors. Although the new landscape of investment possibilities may substantially benefit retail investors, one financial instrument attracting increasing amounts of retail investors’ assets is acutely troublesome: the commodity futures contract. Futures originated as a means for farmers and other producers of agricultural commodities to ensure that their products could be sold at reasonable prices. Early on, the goals of futures regulation centered on one particular risk …

Foreclosure Of A Deed Of Trust In Virginia, Doug Rendleman

Scholarly Articles

This article deals with foreclosure of a deed of trust in Virginia. The Introduction discusses the deed of trust or mortgage as a social and political institution and the foreclosure crisis that seems to be ending. Part I is a brief history of mortgage law. It provides a short history of the modern mortgage system in the United States. Part II follows with a description of the approach that Virginia takes to mortgages. It localizes the mortgage institution to Virginia and introduces Virginia's vocabulary and technical details, the deed of trust, and the parties' rights and obligations. Part III provides …

The Case For A Uniform Definition Of A Leveraged Loan, Zachary L. Pechter

Florida State University Law Review

Over the past twenty years, leveraged loans and high yield bonds have converged into similar instruments, sparking a debate as to whether leveraged loans should be regulated as securities like high yield bonds. This Note recognizes problems with the current regulatory framework for leveraged loans and shows that leveraged loans are not securities and should not be regulated as such. Instead of regulating leveraged loans as securities, which would likely be more costly than beneficial and contrary to the SEC’s mission statement, the SEC should promulgate a uniform definition of a leveraged loan. This solution would alleviate problems such as …

A Place Of Their Own Crowds In The New Market For Equit Crowdfunding, Seth C. Oranburg

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "Is small better than large? When it comes to normative business law policy, many seem to think so. Many scholars attribute the 2007–08 financial crisis to mis-regulation of large banks. Many others attribute the subsequent economic recovery to jobs created by small businesses. While the “99%” protested big banks on Wall Street, the “Startup America” grassroots campaign for small business garnered political support for corporate-finance legislation. Within a two-year period, Congress passed the JOBS Act—which tripled private company shareholder limits, authorized federal equity crowdfunding, and created the “mini-IPO” Regulation A+— and the Dodd-Frank Act—which seeks to end “too big …

Second-Generation Monopolization: Parallel Exclusion In Derivatives Markets, Felix B. Chang

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The reluctance of antitrust to condemn parallel exclusion permits oligopolies to be entrenched. This is because parallel exclusion—multiple-firm conduct that inhibits market entrants—cannot satisfy the current strictures of monopolization, which is understood to prohibit single-firm conduct. Yet this is an outdated way of conceptualizing monopolization. An expansion of monopolization—to cover parallel, non-collusive acts by an oligopoly—is due.

To push the law toward recognizing parallel exclusion, this Article examines concentration in the markets for financial derivatives, which are perennially dominated by the same big banks. Even after losses under first-generation antitrust claims, the dominant derivatives dealers have found ways to retain …

Regulating The Moneychangers, Jerry W. Markham

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comment: Maryland State Bank: The Responsible Solution For Fostering The Growth Of Maryland's Medical Cannabis Program, David Bronfein

University of Baltimore Law Forum

In 2013, Maryland passed its initial medical cannabis law.1 Although seemingly a success in the medical cannabis reform movement, the law only allowed for “academic medical centers” to participate in the program.2 In essence, an academic medical center could dispense medical cannabis to patients who met the criteria for participation in their research program.3 The success of this type of program structure was a concern for medical cannabis advocates,4 and the concerns were validated when no academic medical centers decided to participate.5 As a result of this lackluster program, the General Assembly responded by passing a bill6 during the 2014 …

Insiders Anonymous: The Third Circuit Rehabilitates Sec Rule 10b5-2(B)(2) And Extends Liability For Insider Trading To Non-Fiduciaries In United States V. Mcgee, 4 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 15 (2016), Scott Henry

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

This Article examines the development of insider trading law under SEC Rule 10b-5, and the Third Circuit Court’s decision in United States v. McGee to extend liability for securities fraud under Rule 10b5-(2)(b)(2) to corporate outsiders without a fiduciary relationship to the corporation in whose securities they trade.

The Extraterritorial Effects Of The Volcker Rule, 4 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 1 (2016), Liliya Bozhanova

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as the “Volcker Rule”, essentially prohibits “banking entities” from engaging in “proprietary trading” and from acquiring or retaining an ownership interest in, sponsoring, or having certain relationships with a hedge fund or a private equity fund. The rule has been controversial not only because of its substantive content but also due to its extraterritorial reach, which has a significant impact on foreign banking entities that have U.S. affiliates. The Volcker Rule’s extraterritoriality lies within the broad definition of the term “banking entity”, which includes not …

Regulation Automated Trading: Cftc Source Code Turnover Provision Is Unnecessary And Dangerous To U.S. Markets, 4 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 37 (2016), Thomas Laser

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

Over the past several decades, the financial markets have experienced a technological revolution in how securities and other financial instruments are traded. Where these contracts and assets were once traded on the floors of various registered brick and mortar exchanges across the globe, they are now primarily traded via online platforms. While allowing greater efficiency and transparency in the markets, this shift has also spawned the practice of high-frequency algorithmic trading. This process uses highly sophisticated computers and complex algorithms to trade securities and derivative products faster than the human eye can blink. Although many argue that high-frequency algorithmic trading …

A Trending Use Of Insulation And A Temporary Way Out, 4 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 51 (2016), Jennifer Leung

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

In order to understand the constitutionality of the SEC’s administrative process, Part II of this Article begins with a history of Article II’s Appointments Clause. Part III describes the competing theories resulting from a circuit split, specifically Hill v. Securities & Exchange Commission and Bebo v. Securities Exchange Commission. Part IV of this Article then evaluates the impact of the Appointments Clause on the Dodd-Frank Act and discusses the consequences of raising meritless constitutional questions that jeopardize the intent of the Dodd-Frank Act. Subsection IV.A. explains the exhaustion doctrine and subsection IV.B. explores Congress’s intent of implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, …

Protecting Trade Secrets Under International Investment Law: What Secrets Investors Should Not Tell States, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 228 (2016), Daria Kim

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The article addresses specifics of trade secret protection under international investment law. As a particular example, it analyzes protection of pharmaceutical regulatory data against the background of the growing public policy campaign for broader access to clinical trial data and the recent unprecedented practice of the European Medicines Agency of disclosing clinical dossiers submitted for drug marketing approval. Given the significant role of foreign direct investment in the global pharmaceutical industry and substantial, exponentially increasing costs incurred by drug originator companies in conducting clinical trials, the prospect of investor-state dispute over data disclosure does not appear purely hypothetical. The question …

Corruption And Development: The Need Of International Investigations With A Multijurisdictional Approach And The Involvement Of Multilateral Development Banks With National Authorities, Juan Ronderos, Michelle Ratpan, Andrea Osorio Rincon

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

The authors argue that while both Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and national governments have mechanisms to fight corruption, the outcomes of these enforcement mechanisms diverge. MDBs are interested in the causes and effects of corruption from a development perspective and, as such, tend to sanction Small and Medium Enterprises and individuals, while national governments are focused on a more punitive outcome, targeting larger multinational corporations. The article examines the enforcement objectives articulated in national legislation, namely the American Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act and its Canadian counterpart (the CFPOA) as well as several Canadian cases, on the one hand, and …

Treating The New European Disease Of Consumer Debt In A Post-Communist State: The Groundbreaking New Russian Personal Insolvency Law, 41 Brook. J. Int'l L. 655 (2016), Jason J. Kilborn

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the tumultuous transition from restrictive Communism to the debt-fueled consumer economy of modern Russia. In particular, it surveys Russia’s legal response to severe debt distress, situating it in the context of nearly one thousand years of historical development. Effective 1 October 2015, Russia finally joined most of its European neighbors in adopting a personal bankruptcy law, with characteristics that reflect both evolving international best practices and a series of lessons not learned. This article offers the first detailed exposition in English of the two steps forward represented by this new law, as well as an evaluation of …

Undermining Bitcoin, Sam Hampton

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In March 2014, the IRS issued a notice detailing the tax treatment the agency would apply to virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Although applauded by some as a step towards legal legitimacy for this new technology, the IRS’s position severely undermines the transactional utility of virtual currencies. Using tax rules established for traditional property transactions frustrates one of virtual currencies’ principal purposes: its use as a medium of exchange. Tax compliance requires calculation and payment of capital gains tax, which necessitates documentation of all acquisitions and dispositions of virtual currencies. This tax treatment will likely discourage the use of these …

Friends With Benefits: Analyzing The Implications Of United States V. Newman For The Future Of Insider Trading, Tebsy Paul

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Political Economy Of Corporate Financial Regulatory Legislation, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 679 (2016), Michael Patrick Wilt

UIC Law Review

This article will discuss corporate financial regulatory legislation and its enforcement at the federal level in light of interest group politics and will seek to develop a better understanding of how federal corporate financial regulatory legislation is enacted by examining legislative history. The goal of this article is to provide an overview of the legislative history of two important laws (the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Sarbanes Oxley Act) and how interest group politics affected their passage. “Business” interests (in general) are different from the interests of the accounting industry, and both interest groups will be considered. Unlike most …

Top-Down Bank Capital Regulation, Heidi Mandanis Schooner

Scholarly Articles

In proposing a top-down system of capital regulation, this Article shares a precautionary attitude toward bank regulation found increasingly in post-Financial Crisis scholarship. The viewpoint is one that favors ex ante financial regulation in which regulators are charged with avoiding public harm. More broadly, this Article rejects the notion that regulation is the enemy of markets and therefore must be minimized. Regulation is viewed neutrally—neither inherently good nor inherently bad—as a co-existing partner in highly complex and ever evolving financial markets.

To develop the case for a top-down system of capital regulation, this Article continues as follows, Part II describes …

Contingent Constitutionality, Legislative Facts, And Campaign Finance, Michael T. Morley

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Lack Of Marketability And Minority Discounts In Valuing Close Corporation Stock: Elusiveness And Judicial Synchrony In Pursuit Of Equitable Consensus, Stephen J. Leacock

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.